Directions: Study the following information carefully and answer the question given below.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
The concept of the "Blue Economy"—harnessing the economic potential of marine and coastal resources while ensuring the environmental sustainability of ocean ecosystems—has become a central focus of international economic governance. Oceans generate over three trillion dollars annually in global economic value through marine transit, offshore wind energy, and commercial aquaculture. However, marine ecosystems face unprecedented existential pressure from unregulated industrial overfishing, plastic pollution, and the looming threat of commercial deep-sea mining for polymetallic nodules on abyssal plains.
The Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Central Pacific, covering millions of square kilometres beneath four thousand metres of water, holds vast seabed deposits of nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese—critical minerals essential for electric vehicle batteries. Mining consortia argue that seabed extraction produces far fewer carbon emissions and social disruption than terrestrial open-pit mining in rainforests. However, marine biologists and environmental economists caution that deep-sea ecosystems evolve over millions of years in near-total physical stasis. Heavy seabed crawler machinery and underwater sediment plumes could permanently obliterate unique benthic organisms, smother deep pelagic food webs, and disrupt oceanic carbon sequestration cycles. In response, dozens of coastal nations and international scientific bodies are calling for a binding global moratorium on deep-sea mining until comprehensive environmental safeguards are established.
According to the passage, why are mining consortia eager to extract polymetallic nodules from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone?
💡 Solution & Explanation:
Correct Answer: (C)
Core Concept: Reading Comprehension — Detail Retrieval
Step-by-Step Solution:
1. Paragraph 2 explains: 'holds vast seabed deposits of nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese—critical minerals essential for electric vehicle batteries.'
2. Option (C) is an exact restatement.
3. Options B, C, and D are fabricated distractors.
Key Shortcut / Exam Tip: Scan paragraph 2 for the minerals needed for EV batteries.